All badge marked birds will have white or mixed flights,Birds with dark flights, and a little white around the neck and head, are grizzles.A red spangle has a white base with red patches, a red mottle, has a red base with white patchesAll solid colored birds are called selfs. Kite is a Almond term, the color kite is a black bronz self, the classical white self feathers ) Lets say I was judging a preforming roller show. Two almonds come up, and one is the classical almond self, and the other almost identical. Except it has five pure white flights mixed in it's wings. I would have to place the roller with no white flights in it's wing ahead of the bird with pure white feathers, because the first is the CLASSICIAL almond color, and pure white feathers mixed in is a color flaw. The mix wing roller could have been the better performer in the air, The better colored self almond could be the better breeder of performance birds, It could be the father of the mixwing almond when mated to a black bronz mixwing (kite) The better color mating is the black bronz with no white feathers. So to get the best spinner in the air, you might have to use the bird with the white feathers, Now lets look at a different perspective. The almond with some white flight feathers has tight silky feathers that shine, The CLASSICIAL almond,loose fluffy feathers, with it's wings drooping, the mixwing , eyes shinning, and standing on it's toes, now in a performing roller show who's the winner, To a breeder with years of experience it's pretty obvious. The mixwing's superior quality's out trump the CLASSICIAL almonds color , to a beginner it's very confusing. You can breed for color and ultimate performance, if you have many years of experience and high quality stock.

YELLOW SELF

RED BAR BROACHED

BLACK BAR BROACHED

BLUE GRIZZLE WHITE FLIGHT

BLUE SADDLE BALD

BLACK SADDLE BALD

RED BAR SELF

BLACK MIXWING

All colors of rollers can preform to the highest degree . To breed just for color , you will soon loose feather quality, and the quality of the roll. Although the yellow to the left had one yellow parent self.I have always mated dilutes this way. And this is why the birds color is so uniform, and the feather quality excellent. After all these years I might mate two yellows together just to see if the feather quality will hold up. Or start to wash out It's the same principle with all the different dilutes . To keep the rich color of a Almond, You mate the Almond to a kite.(black bronz self)

BLACK MIX WING. THIS 18 YEAR OLD COCK IS ACTUALLY A GRIZZLE, IF YOU CLICK ON HIS PICTURE, AND LOOK AT HIS NECK, YOU WILL SEE ALL THE TINY WHITE FEATHERS IF YOU PULL HIS WING OUT YOU WILL SEE THE 3 WHITE FEATHERS ON HIS WING ARE GRIZZLED, THIS IS WHY THE COLORS OF FLYING ROLLERS CAN BE SO CONFUSING, HE LOOKS LIKE A BLACK MIX WING, GENETICALLY HE IS A BLACK GRIZZLE

BLUE BRONZ GRIZZLE

BLUE BAR BROACHED BALD

Dun is not a real color, and is not dilute. It;s just an old timers term for a lighter color blue. An old timer was showing me a red check cock and said see the Dun in this birds rump. In a red pigeon any blue showing, lets you know the red cock is carrying blue, and can produce blue offspring.

I'm thinking this bird is not a grizzle, but a black spangle, from the picture I cant see any feathers that have both blue and white on the same feather, Most people don't know the difference between a grizzle and a spangle, so I will explain it, A grizzle has 2 colors on the same feather, no matter what the colors. A red mottle has a red base, with white feathers ( scattered ) But each feather is either red or white, A red spangle has a white background with white feathers. A black mottle has a black base with white blotches, and a black spangle has a white base, with black blotches, A black grizzle and a black mottle can look almost the same, but a black mottle will have in grizzle feathers, Think of a black badge, it has no grizzle feathers, so a black mottle is just a black badge with pure white feathers scattered over the body. The bird in the picture is very nice, to test it you would just mate it to a self , that you know is not a grizzle.( and in a individual coop )if any young are grizzle you have your answer. :) RK'S ROLLER RANCH

PICTURES BORROWED FROM INTERNET

So knowing all the facts, the blue splash cock is carrying grizzle, Recessive red suppresses grizzle and that is what gives a spangle, or mottle its splotchy look, and some don't have any grizzle feathers showing. I've heard some say that for a bird to be a grizzle it has to show the grizzle. This isn't so, As some pure white looking birds are genetically red grizzles. This goes to show you that everything in this roller game isn't cut and dried. So I would still call this bird a blue spangle, You don't call a red spangle a red grizzle, just because its carrying the grizzle factor, Just like you wouldn't call a pure white pigeon a red grizzle , just because it also carries the grizzle factor, RK

BLUE SPANGLE'S MATE

BLUE SPANGLE'S YOUNGSTER

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Sometimes the only way to find a birds genetic makeup is breeding a bird with different mates, I have raised many a blue check like the color on the left, But when you pull the birds wing out , you can see the flight feathers are grizzled, If this were the case here, then the hen would have put the grizzle on the youngster and not necessarily the cock, RK